Asus Eee PC 1005PEB

ASUS Eee PC 1005PEB

It's nearly impossible to walk through an airport or coffee shop without seeing an Eee PC. That's in part because there is a confusing array of overlapping Netbooks that all carry the Asus Eee PC name, despite having different components, prices, and even screen sizes. For $329, the retail-only 1005PEB-RRED01S hits all the major notes, including Intel's current Atom N450 CPU. Compared with other retail N450 Netbooks we've seen, the Eee PC costs a little less, but savvy online shoppers can find largely identical configurations (such as the Eee PC 1001P) for as little as $299, if they're willing to trade a little hard drive space. That said, the three retail Netbooks we're looking at in our spring 2010 retail laptop review roundup are all priced within $30 of each other, and have largely similar specs. Between these three, it's mostly a matter of trying them out in person and going for the design and keyboard/touch pad combo that works best for you. (Ours isn't a binding opinion, but of this group, we generally thought the Samsung NP-N210-JA02US had the best touch pad and the Asus 1005PEB had the best keyboard, leaving the Dell iM1012-687OBK slightly behind.) If you were in a retail store today and saw all three of the Netbooks compared here side by side, we'd give a slight edge to the Asus 1005PEB, thanks to its lower price, good battery life, and decent keyboard.